Daniel Gray's Korean Food Story

Episode #88: Korean Favorite Foods: Japchae

2015-01-28

This dish takes time, precision and love to make properly, but if it is done correctly, it is a dish your family and friends will love and ask you to make every time you make them. Listeners, this is one of the must have dishes at a wedding and if it is not properly made, guests might question the validity of the marriage. Also, wives are judged by their skill and technique of making this dish. I know, it seems intimidating for such a delightful dish.

Japchae comes from the Hangul words that means chopped and mixed and it is made of glass noodles called dangmyeong which is usually made from sweet potato starch. Japchae is made by boiling the glass noodles and then mixing them with stir-fried spinach, carrots, mushrooms, beef and onions. It is seasoned with a sweet and savory, sesame-soy sauce.

No Korean party is complete without Japchae-it's like not having a birthday cake and candles at a birthday party. It has long been observed as a festival dish and is a headlining dish on birthdays, celebrations like graduations, weddings and 60th birthday celebrationa.

Japchae was first introduce in the seventeenth century when King Gwanghaegun had a banquet. The Gwanghaegun Ilgi which are the Daily Records of King Gwanghaegun's Reign tells us that Yi Chung, one of the ruler's top chefs, had the difficult task of offering new and unique dishes to the king. The king was apparently quite picky and, and it seems, quite a foodie-according to the records.

Among all these dishes, it was Japchae that most enthralled the heart of the king. However, the Japchae of old was not the japchae of today. It was just a plate of seasoned, chopped and mixed vegetables.

But the idea of the dish was there and because the king enjoyed it so much, the royal kitchens had to come up with newer and even more unique dishes to please the king. One version of japchae had thinly-sliced and sautéed vegetables topped with a special sauce, along with Sichuan pepper (cheoncho), black pepper, and ginger powder. The special sauce was concocted by combining pheasant broth, strained soybean paste and wheat flour, and then reducing it. Oh, the chef liked japchae so much that he promoted the chef Yi Chung to a new position: the Secretary of the Treasury. I guess it is true that the way to a person's heart is through their stomach.
Although now, when japchae is mentioned, most people around the world imagine the slippery and glossy sweet potato noodles, but as I mentioned, this was unheard of until recent times. I think the reason why this type is so popular is because of Korea's love of noodles- especially unique noodles like dangmyeon. The current form of Japchae made with glass noodles became common after a dangmyeon (glass noodles made from sweet potato starch) factory was first erected in Sariwon in 1919. It became popular only after 1930.

While there are many different ways for making japchae, the most important part is that all the individual ingredients such as carrots, spinach, mushrooms, beef and onions are all stir fried individually before being mixed in with the noodles. This keeps all the colors of the ingredients vibrant and the taste pure. After all is cooked, it is best to mix all of the ingredients by hand (you can use a glove if you need). By mixing it by hand, your love and care is passed on to the food.
Let me finish with a tip for making the noodles. Boiling the noodles might cause them to swell if you cook them for too long, so if you are preparing a large batch of japchae the noodles can be steeped in hot water for about 30 minutes before stir-frying.

If you don't have the time for all this. Luckily there are instant versions of japchae and you can get japchae hotteok or snack japchae in a fried bun on the streets.